The days of bookies and bets

Updated 6:46 am, Wednesday, December 26, 2012

New Jersey's current battle with the feds to legalize sports betting got me thinking about the old days when city, county and state police resources were assigned to ride herd on illegal bookies.

A few decades ago, cops regularly raided coffee shops and candy stores fronting for bookies taking illegal bets on horses, the daily number and sports. One Schenectady bookmaker even used a religious retail shop as a front for his operation.

In Schenectady, the city had a dozen cops assigned to a vice squad, which knocked down doors to bookie joints. But when OTB and the state Lottery opened for business, the bookies lost the majority of their horse and numbers traffic.

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Once the illegal drug traffic started booming, the vice squad dropped the gambling racket mission in favor of chasing drug runners and pushers. Cops tell me the bookies taking illegal sports bets nowadays are making a fortune because they are no longer a target.

Of course, their lucrative profits go untaxed. Obviously, if sports wagering becomes legal, cash-strapped local governments will derive a slice of the new gambling revenues. It would be no big expense or other problem setting up the machinery for sports wagering because OTB and racinos could handle the action.

Some pundits say, in the local-government budget squeeze, sports wagering income would be drops in the bucket. But right now any new revenue would help because there is a hole in the bottom of the public sector pail.

Program targets scofflaws

Schenectady police have launched a crackdown against scofflaws who refuse to comply with various city regulations and ordinances.

Operation Quality of Life is a program proposed by first-year Councilman Vince Riggi and inaugurated by Police Chief Mark Chaires.

For many years before he was elected, Riggi was an unofficial ombudsman voicing complaints about loud music, jay walkers, littering and so forth at City Council meetings.

Police Lt. Brian Bienduga said he was pleased with the directed patrol issuing 54 violation citations in November. "That's not bad for a part-time gig," Bienduga said. He said double the number of those cited were stopped and advised that repeat offenders would be ticketed.

He said two officers work the patrol for half their shift two or three times a week. They use marked or unmarked vehicles and work both in uniform or street clothes. Patrols have been concentrating on gateway streets to the city, but will fan out over time.

He said the biggest problems are people walking down the middle of streets, hindering traffic, and loud music.

"These are violators who care only about themselves and totally disregard the rights of others," Bienduga said. "We want to make the city a more desirable place to live. We will keep after violators until we get voluntary compliance from them."

Riggi is enthused with the first month's results. "This is an important program for the city," Riggi said. "I think it will really take off."

Because of this downside, there are some good real estate buys in the once-bright and now dim Electric City.

Without a doubt, the best deal in town is being offered by John Marcella, who has decided to give away his old appliance store in Mont Pleasant. That's right. No charge. Free.

Two and a half years ago, Marcella moved his more than half-century-old business from Crane Street to brand new, enlarged $2.8 million quarters at the Broadway gateway to downtown.

Ever since then, Marcella has had his old vacant store on the market, but no takers. He concedes the generous offer is tied to his fiscal bottom line. The empty building is costing him a whopping $21,000 a year in property taxes. Of course, the new owner would be forced to shoulder the tax burden.

Marcella said it cost about $1 million to construct the building years ago. Two direct negatives make the property less than desirable for a business. The building is at the rear of the parcel away from street visibility. Also, it is located behind a long-boarded-up former Rite-Aid Pharmacy.

Another major drawback is the general deterioration of the Mont Pleasant business district, which has been failing in more recent times. This undesirable streetscape is what prompted Marcella to move in the first place.

Years ago, city officials worked overtime to return a supermarket and a diner in hopes of invigorating the Crane Street commercial strip, but both ventures failed in short order.

Because I was working overnight about 1 a.m. Dec. 6 that year, I was the lone reporter on the scene when Ritz was shot while chasing a Bloods street gang member.

We were able to get the story in a late Times Union edition because then-Executive City Editor Jim Michaels hopped out of bed and took my phone information. It was a big-deal story because cops getting shot in the Capital Region is a rarity – fortunately.

Ritz was hit twice by handgun shots. He was unhurt, luckily, because one slug was stopped by chest body armor and a second round was lodged in his police radio. The gunman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Ritz succeeded Jeremy Pace, an evidence technician, as PBA president. It's interesting to note that two years ago, Pace also was shot in the line of duty.

He was a member of the department's SWAT team that was executing a search warrant when he was hit in the chest by a shotgun blast. "The impact spun me around but, because of body armor, I was not hurt," Pace said.

When Ritz was hit it was the first time a Schenectady officer had been shot in 20 years. In 1979, Patrolman Bill Koenige was killed by gunfire responding to a domestic dispute. I still recall that sad story. The shooter fired six rounds at police, then took his own life.

Colucciello adding to resume

Hey, folks, don't look now but Ray Colucciello, the Capital Region's most ubiquitous school superintendent, is on the move again.

On Friday, he will become interim superintendent of the Fonda-Fultonville Central School District.

Just a few months ago, he ended a three-year run as interim super of Albany public schools. Prior to that, he was superintendent of Schenectady city schools and interim super of Troy schools. Imagine the headaches running all three major urban districts in this region.

He didn't miss suburbia, having served as interim super at the Ballston Spa and Voorheesville school districts. And he did a brief rural stint at Schoharie Central Schools.

After leaving Albany in August, Colucciello told friends it was time to take it easy, but he reneged. "The Fonda-Fultonville job opened up so I decided to take it. But it's only until June," he said.